Idiot’s guide or classified presidential briefing? CIA reveals videos it made for Reagan

The Central Intelligence Agency has released videos about the Soviet Union that have all the charm of retro grade school public service announcements.

Except, these movies – complete with cheesy special effects, dramatic music and a droll narrator – were classified intelligence briefings for President Ronald Reagan.

The agency began producing the briefings in 1981, suggesting they might be ‘helpful for Reagan’.

The videos cover a variety of pressing issues of the time, from a run-down of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan to a preview of Mr Reagan’s 1988 trip to Moscow – which included a weather report and a video montage of the Soviet capital.